Evening time economy aims to ‘bring vibrancy and vitality’

A pilot plan to develop an evening time economy for Tallaght will aim to “bring vibrancy and vitality” to the town centre.

The proposal includes plans for a multi-use public plaza, a grant support scheme, an annual activation programme for Tallaght Stadium “including hosting large-scale concerts and other major events each year” and other “flagship initiatives”.

Councillors were presented with the proposal by South Dublin County Council’s Director of Economic Development Jason Frehill at the full council meeting on Monday, January 12.

He said they were “effectively looking from 5pm onwards into the evening and night time and to try bring a bit of vibrancy and vitality to this town centre that presently isn’t there”.

Mr Frehill noted that during the time frame of compiling this proposal, there were 18 vacant commercial units within Tallaght, which “need to be making a contribution to the town centre and bring vibrancy and vitality”.

He also noted that under the Tallaght Local Area Plan, up to 11,000 new homes and 15,000 new jobs will be provided for the area, potentially bringing up to 45,000 additional people to the area.

“They need public amenities, they need somewhere to go in the evening time for a nice drink, something to eat, go to the theatre and enjoy the cultural side of things within Tallaght.”

The proposal was developed after “qualitative engagement” with local businesses and organisations such as South Dublin Chamber, Rua Red, Civic Theatre, Shamrock Rovers, South Dublin Volunteer Centre, An Garda Síochána, Citywise, and others.

The council also carried out a community survey with 845 responses, with over 50% of respondents highlighting the importance of “safety and passive surveillance in Tallaght Town Centre during the evening” and over 60% calling for a focus on enhancing the “overall atmosphere of Tallaght Town Centre”.

Mr Frehill outlined a number of “flagship initiatives” within the proposal to help generate an evening time economy in the area, including an evening time economy grant support scheme for businesses, venues and community groups and establishing a new dedicated events team to “hold a landmark festival in Tallaght”.

Initiatiaves for physical infrastructure include the development of a new cultural hub in Parthalán Place “that will include an evening time food offering to complement Priory Market”, and the creation of “an enlarged, multi-use plaza” as a focal point.

It also proposed developing current venues such as the Tallaght Heritage Centre and Tallaght Stadium to host evening cultural events and “large scale concerts” respectively.

“The intention is that we are going to look specifically at Tallaght and if the different initiatives that have been proposed within this work well, then we will look at a more county-wide basis and see if there are other areas that could benefit from this,” Mr Frehill told councillors.

The plan was very well received by councillors, though many pointed out the need for greater public transport links in the evening to support the proposed initiatives.

Cllr Liona O’Toole (Ind) highlighted the current lack of connectivity between Lucan and Tallaght, with only the W4 bus going between the two, “and if you live on the east side of Lucan you’d be lucky to get on a W4” she said.

Mr Frehill said that there were ongoing conversations between the council and the NTA to improve public transport links across both bus routes and the Luas Red Line.

Cllr Adam Smyth (FF) welcomed the focus on cultural events and alternatives for those who don’t drink alcohol, while Cllr Kay Keane (PBP-S) jokingly requested that the council try and book Metallica for the first concert in Tallaght Stadium seeing as their Irish dates in June this year are already sold out.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme